Best business ISP association of German internet enterprises honours service provider's innovative portfolio

The Association of German Internet Enterprises (eco) has named Claranet GmbH as the best service provider for business customers, 2006.

Olaf Fischer, managing director of Claranet GmbH, accepted the "Business ISP 2006" award in Cologne, today. Witnessed by 300 invited guests from industry and finance, Fischer specially thanked all the customers who had made Claranet's success possible through the trust they had shown in services provided by the company.

The award was sponsored by Telefónica, one of the major IP carriers in Germany.

Through innovation and an excellent price-to-performance ratio, Claranet offers attractive alternatives in a fiercely competitive market segment said Dr. Winfried Meusel of Telefónica

He further noted that Claranet's product portfolio precisely meets the needs of medium-sized companies in industry, finance and administration.

Over 130 applications were received for the categories "Best Internet Service Provider (ISP)", "Best ASP Online Services" and "Innovative Mobile Internet", which according to Harald Summa, president of eco, is indicative of the important position of the Internet in Germany.

Judges based their decision on the level of innovation of the product, price-to-performance ratio, and focus on customer benefits. Second place went to QSC AG and third to Easynet GmbH. eco also honoured Claranet previously with the German Internet Industry Award for its business achievements in the category of "Business Customer Provider" in June 2005.

eco The Association of German Internet Enterprises (eco) is an organisation encompassing over 300 companies with more than 200,000 employees. Sales for the industry last year reached about 40 billion Euros. The goal of the Association is to promote commercial use of the Internet to strengthen the economic position of Germany.

Claranet GmbH: Claranet was founded in the United Kingdom in 1996 and now has offices in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the USA. With its comprehensive portfolio offering solutions in the areas of Internet Access, Managed Hosting, Managed Networks and Managed Security, the company has become one of the largest independent Internet Service Providers for business customers in Europe. Claranet provides Internet services to over 180,000 business customers throughout Europe.

For more information: Claranet GmbH Tarkan Akman (Marketing Director) Petra Tursky-Hartmann (PR manager) Hanauer Landstrasse 196 60314 Frankfurt/ Main Tel.: +49 (69) 408 018-212 E-mail: presse@de.clara.net